Weekly Roundup 12/31: Welcoming 2019

Welcome to the weekly roundup: a compilation of news, ideas and learnings from the SessionM world.

Quote of the week:

“Competition will increase from new, specialist CDPs and from companies offering CDP functions within larger systems. Software vendors looking to add CDP functions are likely to purchase existing CDPs to speed this process. Some marketing agencies and consultancies may also purchase a CDP vendor to gain a proprietary offering for their clients. Most CDP vendors will offer a broad footprint including access, analysis and campaign functions…The pressing need for unified customer data will ensure that buyers continue to seek solutions and often pick a stand-alone CDP as their best choice” – CDPI founder David Raab on where he sees the CDP market heading in 2019

Buzzword of 2018? Let’s take a guess.

CDP, or Customer Data Platform. Why are we not surprised?! In the past six months alone, the CDP sector has grown 23%, thanks to 15 new vendors, 1,256 employees, and $317 million in funding, according to the CDP Institute’s Industry Update, January 2019. The industry has grown quickly as marketers have recognized their need for a “packaged software that creates a persistent, unified customer database that is accessible to other systems”, so much so that the CDP sector is projected to reach $1 billion this year! Over the years, the industry has shifted from a simple data access model, to a more analysis and campaign oriented CDP, or what we here at SessionM call, CDP+. What does that mean? You can get an idea from one of our blog posts. Marketers need not only a unified customer profile, but also the ability to act upon that data to activate into real-time campaigns and offers, designed to enhance the customer experience, and ultimately drive your bottom line. Now..why do I have a feeling CDP might be the buzzword of 2019 too?

Chipotle’s on board with your New Year’s resolutions

New Year, New Me. Whole30? Keto? Paleo? Chipotle has got you covered. In a recent Restaurant Dive article, it talks about Chipotle’s new “Lifestyle Bowls” that provide options for the popular fad diets, offered exclusively via mobile app and website orders for pickup and delivery. Over the past couple of months, Chipotle has been focused on increasing awareness of its delivery and digital platforms. For many restaurants, 2018 was not a great year, according to a recent Bloomberg article. However, Chipotle was one that stood out, having a 48% increase in digital sales last quarter. Their new bowls give them a marketing edge by tapping into a niche market, as well as by offering them solely through online and mobile. We’re excited to see this coming quarter’s bump in digital sales & traffic!

Remember how On-Demand was just on your TV?

It has gone way beyond being able to buy and rent movies whenever you want! Everything we do today has an app. Do you want a ride? Order one. Don’t feel like getting up from the couch, but you’re hungry? It will be there in less than 30 minutes. Don’t have time to go shopping (food, or clothes)? There’s an app (multiple) for that. Check out one of our most recent blogs about The Loyalty Potential of the On-Demand Economy. It dives into what on-demand brands like Uber, Lyft, GrubHub, and DoorDash do to drive loyalty, and what they could be doing to take it to the next level. We’re always here if you’re thinking about how to do that, too. For a preview as to how we can help, check out Gartner’s Market Guide to Loyalty Management.

Brick-and-mobile

Is it the future? Last year the retail apocalypse was a popular topic. Yet at the same time people were touting retail was dead, studies showed more than two-thirds of adult consumers said they preferred to shop more in-store, or equally between online and in-store. Then, in a recent Retail Dive article, retail sales from smartphones grew 14% in Q3 of 2018 from last year. Getting mixed emotions from your consumers? At SessionM we’ve noticed the solution is to simply deliver a seamless and personalized omnichannel experience across all channels. Consumers like consistency, whether it be brick or mobile. In 2019, we can only imagine that mobile commerce will continue to grow. For retailers, consider this an opportunity to leverage this data, connect the dots of your customer journey, and engage customers in a way that makes them want to come back more often, and spend more when they do.